madeleine

Part 1
There was this one time when I first began working at the Natural History Museum that I remember quite vividly. My boss had given me an apron to wear and told me to decorate it with buttons and the like. So I put some cute brooches on it and I always got compliments on how pretty they were.
About six months after that, I was walking with my boss to the store and she tells me, quite frankly, that my brooches, though cute, are not professional and that I should take them off immediately. Not wanting to argue with her, I take them off, but not after she tells me that I could still wear them, except only on my jacket.
I understand there are some things in the world that I am not supposed to fully grasp, but when things like that happen, I become too analytical of the situation. First, I wonder why they even told me to do these things in the beginning, then I question why that person said it to me. Many things have happened in my life where I question other people’s motives, so I shall write about mine.

Part 2
If you’ve ever been to my city you noticed the sense of cultural diversity. In the people walking in the street, the items sold in the shop windows, and even in the architecture of the buildings, there is a multitude of people and places that come from all over the world. Such a beautiful example of this is Balboa Park. The buildings are so old and have so much history hidden behind them that it has to be taken in like deep breaths of clean air that surrounds this city. It is here that my sense of wonder begins.

Part 3
I was born March 11, 1990, the youngest of two children.
There is much to be said of the love and religion that consumes my family’s house. There was never anything that wasn’t provided for – a completely private education (at a Catholic school, no less), weekly visits to the grandparents so that we could live in a family that doesn’t seem so dysfunctional, and even braces for the sets of teeth that would surely grow crooked like the parents’ if it were not for the countless trips to the Orthodontist. Surely we could say that we had everything, if not for the lack of a puppy, but we did not need it considering it was hard enough to get attention in my household. There is no doubt my parents love my brother and I – anything that needed to be done was done immediately and usually with the entire family’s support. So there we were, surrounded by the love of our family that held us together.
Growing up within this family, there were no individual dreams of accomplishmet, but rather a collective dream that was held by the entire family. One did not choose to go to college, one went, because they family knew that someday you would thank them for it. Arguments in my family were rare; namely because my brother, a debater, would say his points so many ties it nowas not worth the time to argue. Even if it was, the words of the opposition fell on deaf ears. Instead we learned to work hard for the things we wanted, and that everything would work out because, well, we would find a way to make it work.
Although my family was and continues to be incredibly supportive, sometimes they put each other to the test to see if they could do things on their own. Many times I have had instances where there was concern toward my education, but my parent’s replies were usually, “well, you need to be more active in your own education, perhaps you should do this” where nothing ever came out of it. Regardless to say, we still loved each other, no matter how hard it was to show it.

Part 4
There were never very many children in my neighborhood – most of our neighbors were of the elderly sort, who quietly lived out their retirement and waited for the coming of death. We quickly found friends with the children across the street, “who showed great promise” according to their parents, both Harvard graduates. We would find hidden hours in the day to play with them, such games that verged on pranks but were too harmless to harm anyone.
I remember hiding between pillow cushions while eagerly anticipating being found.
“Ha! I found you – now you go count to one hundred.”
And while one begins the tedious task of counting the game suddenly gets boring, and the children go on to play something else while not telling you. But still, you stand there, getting closer and closer to finding the children who left five minutes prior.

Part 5
The woman who raised me never struck me as unhappy. Always the one to comfort me I thought she was invincible. No matter how much work she had to do, no matter how bad her day was, she would always find a way to brighten the home we live in. She would be the first to suggest taking a family walk around the neighborhood, or playing the family favorite, Monopoly. My brother always won, but it didn’t matter because my mother would always find a way to make things funny. It was from her that I learned about work ethic and how to carry myself in different situations. As a mother, she taught me about caring, and empathy, and we had such a strong bond between us that I thought every mother and daughter shared this.